Deodorant and method for preparing and storing same

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to the deodorization of foul-smelling substances by the use of a single strain or a few strains of autotrophic bacteria.

This Applicatin is a Divisional Application of Ser. No. 604,417, filed Apr. 30, 1984, in turn a Continuation Application of Ser. No. 260,487, filed May 4, 1981, now abandoned, in turn a Continuation Application of Ser. No. 799,319, filed May 23, 1977, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Certain deodorants comprising deodorizing strains of bacteria have been hitherto commercially available, however, such deodorants were of doubtful efficacy and created problems, especially in storage, etc.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the deodorization of foul-smelling substances by the use of a single strain or a few strains of autotrophic bacteria.

The deodorants of the present invention differ from those of the prior art in the number of strains of bacteria to be used for deodorization, in the method of cultivation of the bacteria and also in the method of preservation of the deodorizing ability of the bacteria.

Thus, after a series of analytical, systematic, original studies on the removal of foul odors originating from living things, the present inventor has succeeded in finding a basic principle for the deodorization with microorganisms as will be explained in detail below.

Further, the inventor has succeeded in effectively using a small number of strains of bacteria or single strain for deodorization, which has hitherto been considered to be impossible from a theoretical standpoint.

This is a beneficial result of the basic principles developed by the present inventor.

Furthermore, from these successes, it has become possible to establish a method of culturing the bacteria so as to permit them to retain their original deodorizing power in the course of repeated subculture. Further, a method of storage of such bacteria for a long period of time has been developed.

It is also now possible to investigate the nonpathogenicity of such bacteria which hitherto, has been difficult.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The attached figures show typical examples of growth of bacteria cultivated in three media different in levels of nutrition, such as high, medium and low, which growth is further accelerated by the addition of substances containing S, N and C in various concentrations, when the multiplication of bacteria reaches a logarithmic phase.

FIG. 1 depicts the case when a culture medium of high nutrition was used. No acceleration can be seen even through the substances containing S, N and C were added for the acceleration of growth.

FIG. 2 depicts the case when a culture medium of medium nutrition was used. A faint tendency to accelerate the growth of bacteria can be seen as responding to the concentration of said substances added to the medium.

FIG. 3 depicts the case when a culture medium of low nutrition was used. A considerable acceleration of growth can be clearly seen depending upon the concentration of the substances added to the medium.

In the above Figure the concentration of said substances were as follows;

0 . . . the substances containing S, N and C were not added,

1 . . . each of Na₂ S, NH₃ and acetic acid was added in 0.1 g,

2 . . . each of Na₂ S, NH₃ and acetic acid was added in 1 g,

3 . . . each of Na₂ S, NH₃ and acetic acid was added in 2 g.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Attempts to deodorize excrement using microorganisms have often been made and among them, some microorganisms were commerciallized on a temporary basis. However, it was a general phenomenon that they disappeared from the market soon afterwards. The reason why they were abandoned after a short period of commercial production is considered to be due to: (a) their poor ability to affect deodorization, (b) difficult conditions for their cultivation, (c) the difficulty in storing them for a rather long period while retaining their original high ability to deodorize, (d) the lack of information on their non-pathogenicity to ensure they do not act as the origin of disease, and (e) lack of economy. The present inventor has succeeded in deodorizing excrement using only one species of a strain or a very small number of species of strains and obtained much original information on the deodorization itself and also on bacteria having an ability to deodorize. Thus, the present inventor has succeeded in overcoming various problems in the deodorization of the excrement including (a)-(e) mentioned above.

Generally speaking, it is difficult to establish a general theory for the deodorization of foul-smelling substances from the stand-point of their composition and chemical structures. Moreover, it should be pointed out that the composition of foul-smelling substances, such as excrement, is very complicated because of the number of compounds contained in excrement is almost infinite. The reasons for this are, first, that food or fodder as a raw material for the excrement consists of many kinds of materials and second, it is a final product obtained after many or an almost infinite number of biochemical reactions induced by enteric bacteria existing in the intestines. This in turn affects the production of foul-smelling compounds contained in the excrement. Therefore, even if only the foul-smelling components in the excrement resulting from metabolism are considered, the number of such compounds is very large yet their proportions are small. The situation is further complicated by reactions with various non-odoriferous components.

As mentioned above, since the excrement is a product of such complicated biochemical reactions, it is almost impossible to develop a general theory for deodorization. Moreover, in fresh excrement, since there exist so many bacteria, e.g. 10¹¹ per 1 g of the excrement, wherein almost all of them are enteric bacteria, many reaction products of metabolism are continuously produced. Furthermore, among those enteric bacteria, there exist many hardy bacteria such as colon bacilli and spore-forming bacilli. Therefore, unfortunately, it is impossible to carry out a sufficient deodorization test on the total foul-smelling compounds existing in excrement to establish an effective deodorization method and moreover it is also impossible to find a method to remove the foul-smelling products of metabolism which are produced one after another successively in the excrement exhausted from the human body.

For such reasons, the present inventor concentrated his efforts in the deodorization study of excrement on S-containing compounds, N-containing compounds and C-containing compounds existing in excrement. However, unfortunately, it was found that, even if the study is restricted to those three groups of compounds mentioned above, it is almost impossible to carry out a sufficient test on each compound belonging to those groups and get a reliable conclusion since there exist so many kinds of compounds belonging to each group. For example, (a) the removal of foul-odor due to the existence of S-containing compounds was tested using so-called sulfur bacteria. It is surely true that there exist many bacteria which attack S-containing compounds and they are called sulfur bacteria in short, however, their behavior and activity to S-containing compounds are very much different from each other and moreover, unfortunately, in the excrement, many kinds of S-containing compounds are present.

Accordingly, after many experiments had been carried out by the present inventor, progress has been realized but further problems remain on the interaction between sulfur bacteria and the S-containing compounds in excrement. Furthermore, (b) on the removal of foul-odor due to the existence of N-containing compounds using nitration bacteria, it was also confirmed that a complete study supported by a sufficient experimental test can never be accomplished. And moreover, (c) the condition was the same also on the C-containing compounds since there exist many compounds whose main component is the carbon atom and sufficient tests can never be expected even if the test is restricted to decarboxylation.

Thus, it was confirmed that any reliable conclusion on the deodorization of excrement can never be derived experimentally, even if the experimental test concentrates on the three groups of compounds mentioned above.

In view of such difficulties in the study of the deodorization as mentioned above, the present inventor has attempted to find, at first, one or two representative foul-smelling compounds belonging to the same group defined above. Fortunately, it was found that (a) sodium sulfate is representative of the group of compounds having an S-atom in their molecules and accordingly, when any bacterium which effectively act on to sodium sulfide to assimilate or modify it chemically into completely odorless material (hereafter, such an action will be called "S-action") is found, progress towards the solution of the deodorization problem concerning the existence of foul S-containing compounds can be considered to be made; (b) on the group of compounds having the N-atom in their molecules, ammonia, indole or skatole are representative of the group and the next step is to find suitable bacterium having ability to render odorless such representative compounds (N-action); (c) any lower aliphatic carboxylic acid can be a representative of the group of compounds having the C-atom in their molecules, and, of course, to find a proper bacterium (C-action) is the next step.

That is, through an extensive experimental study carried out using many combinations of various organic reagents and strains, it was found that although there exist many S-containing compounds in the excrement such as SO₂, CS₂, CH₃ SH, . . . , (C₆ H₅ CH₂)SH, etc, together with H₂ S and Na₂ S.9H₂ O as the typical examples known to exist in excrement, it is unnecessary to examine the behavior of a bacterium on to those sulfide compounds one by one if sodium sulfide is representative of those sulfur compounds and the same will be true also on the nitrogen compounds and the carbon compounds as explained already. By following the procedure established by the present inventor, a practical deodorization test can be carried out using bacteria of a single strain if they exhibit (a) S-action (as explained above, this action can be confirmed experimentally using Na₂ S as the representative material to be tested), (b) N-action (this action can be tested using NH₃, indole or skatole as representative of N-compounds) and (c) C-action (this can be tested by using any one of lower aliphatic carboxylic acids) simultaneously, or by using a plural number of strains of bacteria if those strains act in a different way from each other. Thus, this procedure makes it easy to establish a method for deodorization. Furthermore, the present inventor has found that there is a special relationship between the deodorization bacteria and those S-, N- and C-containing compounds as will be explained later. The conclusion obtained on the general procedure to find how to deodorize the excrement will be called the S.N.C. theory. However, it should be pointed out that the deodorization of the excrement is not as simple as selecting a suitable strain or strains. The determination of other required conditions for the deodorization is also necessary.

(I) At first, a comment will be made on the species of bacteria which will be used in the present invention. The present inventor decided to limit the choice of the bacteria to autotrophic bacteria, since autotrophic bacteria have an ability to take their nutrition effectively from a medium of low nutrition and to assimilate it into their own bodies. This means the nutritional demand of the bacteria is rather low.

(II) Hitherto, as already reported in publications, it is known that thio-bacilli which are autotrophic bacteria, have an ability to remove foul odors due to the existence of mercaptan. However, since the bacilli had a fatal defect from the commercial stand-point, i.e. that the rate of multiplication of the bacilli is very low, they have not yet been put to practical use for the deodorization of excrement. In the course of the study, it was necessary for the present inventor to choose any one of two ways, to either abandon this group of bacteria for the reason that their rate of multiplication is low or to endeavour to find a strain belonging to this group of bacteria which has an appreciable rate of multiplication. The problem of velocity of multiplication of bacteria raises two other problems: (1) is it possible for the given bacteria to overcome other various bacteria in its struggle for existence in the excrement? and (2) is mass production possible?

(III) Even if a bacterium has a rapid rate of growth under ordinary conditions, it is doubtful that the bacterium have the ability to realize a high rate of multiplication in the excrement since it contains a certain amount of gall which has a strong ability to prevent the multiplication of bacteria. It is known generally that the growth of bacteria living in the earth is rapidly prevented by the existence of about 0.5% of powder of gall. Since autotrophic bacteria belong to the group of bacteria living in the earth, they are, accordingly, very sensitive to gall.

Therefore, for the purpose of the present invention, it was a necessary matter to find a strain which is not sensitive to gall or to acclimatize a strain to be resistant to gall in more than 1% concentration.

(IV) As a necessary property of bacteria to be used in the present invention, the bacteria should have the ability to multiply rapidly or rapidly suppress the growth of other bacteria for a long period not only in aerobic conditions but also in the condition where the partial pressure of oxygen is rather too low when the passing of air through the medium is not carried out, since the inner part of the excrement is considered to be in a highly anaerobic condition by the existence of living bacteria in the excrement.

Furthermore, the pH value of the environment of the excrement rapidly fluctuates and the bacteria which are capable for the present purpose should have the ability to resist such a pH change.

(V) Since the excrement is, generally, a mixture of feces and urine, the bacteria to be used for the present purpose should have a high activity even in such a medium where the concentration of salt is very high.

(VI) The bacteria to be used for the present purpose should not cause disease in animals and plants. This is a very severe condition to be maintained for the bacteria used for the deodorization.

The bacteria which can be used for the deodorization of the excrement should have these properties.

Here, a question arises, is it possible that any one strain of bacteria can have all of these properties, mentioned above, at the same time, as the necessary condition for a deodorizing substance.

It has been considered to be a very difficult matter to provide a strain of bacteria having an ability to simultaneously convert S-, N- and C-containing compounds into non-smelling substances. Again, such ability is only one of the necessary conditions for the deodorizer; said deodorizer should have many other properties in order to play the role satisfactorily, as mentioned above.

The present inventor has succeeded in isolating various bacteria each having the characteristic properties, from among many types of bacteria. For example, some of those isolated species only exhibited S-action or N-action or C-action, some exhibited two of those three actions and some exhibited three actions together at the same time, wherein those isolated strains satisfied the conditions (II)-(VI) mentioned above. Using those isolated strains, accordingly, the correctness of the S.N.C-theory of the present inventor was able to be proven.

In Table 1, an example of such experimental data is listed. Table 1 lists cases where a combination of three species of strains, F.R.I. No. 2546, No. 2545 and No. 2544, each having an ability to exhibit one different action, strongly, was used, or a case where only one strain, F.R.I. No. 2823, having an ability to exhibit S-, N- and C-actions simultaneously was used. From Table 1, it is clearly understood that, in order to carry out the deodorization effectively, it is necessary to satisfy the condition that bacteria, regardless of whether they consist of only one strain or of multiple strains, should have an ability to take said three actions simultaneously.

                  TABLE 1                                                          ______________________________________                                                               Residual Odor                                                                  Degree (Deodorizing                                                            power test)                                                                    after standing for each                                  Characteristic        given period at 28° C.                            in Action   F.R.I. No.    24 hr   48 hr                                                                               72 hr                                   ______________________________________                                         S-action is 2546          2       1'   1                                       especially strong                                                              N-action    2545          3       3    3                                       C-action is 2544          3       3    2'                                      especially strong                                                              S + N-actions are                                                                          2546 + 2545   1'      1'   0'                                      especially strong                                                              S + C-actions are                                                                          2546 + 2544   1'      1'   0'                                      especially strong                                                              N + C-actions are                                                                          2545 + 2544   3       2'   2                                       especially strong                                                              S + N + C-actions,                                                                         2546 + 2545 + 2544                                                                           1'      1'   0'                                      all together                                                                   S + N + C-actions,                                                                         2823          0˜1                                                                              0'   0˜0'                              all together                                                                   ______________________________________                                    

Remarks:

(1) In each test, 10 wt% of culture liquor was added to the excrement based upon the weight of the excrement.

(2) "F.R.I. No." means the acceptance number of the Fermentation Research Institute (Agency of Industrial Science & Technology-Japan).

(3) The deodorization power was indicated with residual odor degree, wherein:

0 . . . completely deodorized (the most effective),

0' . . . it was not certain the foul-odor had disappeared.

1 . . . at first, it was possible to detect a faint odor, however, instantly, it became undetectable,

1' . . . at first, it was surely possible to detect a faint odor, however, soon after, it became impossible to detect,

2 . . . a faint odor, however, it was possible to detect with certainty,

2' . . . the residual odor was much weaker than the foul-odor of the control sample (equal to the test sample),

3 . . . the residual odor was weaker than the foul-odor of the control sample,

3' . . . a little weaker than the foul odor of the control sample,

4 . . . almost equivalent to the foul-odor of the control sample (however it should be pointed out that even if the degrees of odor in both samples were equivalent, it does not mean the amounts of substances having foul-odor in both samples are equivalent to each other).

Next, there will be described in detail the biochemical properties and the biological characteristics of four typical strains of bacteria, that is, a strain having an ability to simultaneously exhibit S-, N- and C-actions (that is, F.R.I. No. 2823) and three strains, wherein two of them can exhibit one action especially strongly such as S-action (F.R.I. No. 2546) or C-action (F.R.I. No. 2544) and the other exhibits only N-action (F.R.I. No. 2545). These strains were used very often for the experimental tests for the establishment of the deodorization theory of the present inventor.

Table 2 shows the results of microscopic tests of those four strains of bacteria and also their biochemical behavior, Table 3 shows their abilities to decompose various saccharides, Table 4 shows the effect of nutrition on their multiplication and also the results of tests to accelerate their growth and Table 5 shows the results of cultivation of those four bacteria when various effective components contained in the excrement were added to various culture media as nutriments. As it can be understood from Table 5, the rate of growth of those bacteria is accelerated by the addition of nutriments such as S-, N- and C-containing substances to a basic culture medium. If the medium consists of poor nutriments, however, with the increase of nutrition in a basic medium, such addition becomes ineffective for the acceleration of the rate of growth. That is, when a basic culture medium of medium nutrition was used for cultivation, a weak acceleration was observed by the addition of those substances and again, when a basic culture medium of high nutrition was used, an even weaker acceleration was barely observed by accurate measurement using a nephelometer. It was impossible to observe the acceleration of growth with the naked eye.

FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 show some examples of such results obtained by the measurement with a nephelometer on those experiments concerning the acceleration of growth explained above. That is, adding S-, N- and C-containing substances into the basic culture medium in various concentrations at the period when the growth of bacteria entered the log phase, that is, after 21 hr from the beginning of cultivation in the basic medium, the response to the addition of those substances was accurately detected by the measurement of relative turbidity with the lapse of time, wherein "0" was a case when the addition was not performed, "1" was a case when Na₂ S.9H₂ O, NH₃ and acetic acid were added each in the amount of 0.1 g, "2" was a case when those substances were added each in the amount of 1 g and "3" was a case when those were added each in the amount of 2 g. Upon the addition, 37% aqueous solution of ammonia was used as the source of NH₃ and glacial acetic acid was used as the source of acetic acid. In those experiments shown in FIG. 1-FIG. 3, the culture media used were (S-W) as a medium of low nutrition, (S-W)+1 g of casaminoacid+0.1 g of vitamin as a medium of middle nutrition and 10 g of peptone+5 g of gravy+5 g of NaCl+1 g of glucose as a medium of high nutrition. However, it should be pointed out that those compositions of culture media were only one example of culture experiments carried out by the present inventor.

                                      TABLE 2                                      __________________________________________________________________________                   F.R.I. No.                                                                     2546    2545    2544   2823                                      __________________________________________________________________________     Microscopic observation and                                                    Results of cultivation                                                         Gram. dyeing  -       -       -      -                                         Shape         rod     short rod                                                                              rod    rod                                       Spore         -       -       -      -                                         Capsule       -       -       -      -                                         Motility      +       +       +      +                                         Condition for facultative                                                                            facultative                                                                            facultative                                                                           facultative                               cultivation   anaerobic                                                                              anaerobic                                                                              anaerobic                                                                             anaerobic                                 Shape and ap- large circu-                                                                           middle circu-                                                                          middle circu-                                                                         middle circu-                             pearance of colony                                                                           lar type                                                                               lar type                                                                               lar type                                                                              lar type                                  (observed upon                                                                               high upheaval                                                                          low upheaval                                                                           semi-spherical                                                                        semi-spherical                            Japanese gelatin)             upheaval                                                                              upheaval                                                wet smooth                                                                             wet smooth                                                                             wet smooth                                                                            smooth surface                                          surface surface surface                                                        opaline wet                                                                            opaline wet                                                                            opaline wet                                                                           opaline wet                                             circumference                                                                          circumference                                                                          circumference                                                                         circumference                                           non-            non-                                                           transparent,                                                                           semi-trans-                                                                            transparent,                                                                          semi-trans-                                             viscous parent, viscous                                                                        viscous                                                                               parent, viscous                           Biochemical Properties                                                         Generation of NH.sub.3                                                                       -       -       -      -                                         Generation of H.sub.2 S                                                                      -       -       -      -                                         Generation of indol                                                                          -       -       -      -                                         Production of -       -       -      -                                         catalase                                                                       Generation of -       -       -      -                                         coloring matter                                                                Decomposition of                                                                             +       +       +      +                                         urea                                                                           Utilization of                                                                               +       -       +      +                                         citric acid                                                                    Liquidification of                                                                           +       -       -      -                                         gelatin                                                                        V-P reaction  -       -       -      -                                         Reduction of nitrate                                                                         -       -       -      -                                         __________________________________________________________________________      Remark:                                                                        + . . . possitive,                                                             - . . . negative                                                         

                  TABLE 3                                                          ______________________________________                                                     F.R.I. No.                                                                     2546   2545    2544   2823                                         ______________________________________                                         Decomposibility                                                                of saccharide                                                                  Glucose       +      +         +    +                                          Starch        -      -         -    +                                          Melizitose    -      -         -    -                                          Maltose       -      -         -    -                                          Raffinose     -      -         -    -                                          Fluctose      ±   -         -    -                                          Melibiose     -      -         +    -                                          Xylose        -      ±      +    +                                          Sorbitol      -      -         -    -                                          Mannitol      -      -         -    -                                          Inositol      -      -         -    -                                          Arabinose     -      -         +    -                                          Lactose       -      -         -    -                                          Mannose       -      ±      -    +                                          Saccharose    -      -         -    -                                          Salicine      -      -         -    -                                          ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 4                                                          ______________________________________                                         Substance                                                                      added to (S--W) F.R.I. No.                                                     culture medium  2546    2545    2544  2823                                     ______________________________________                                         none            +       +       +     +                                        S--containing amino-acid                                                                       +++     ++      ++    +++                                      Cyclic amino-acid                                                                              ++      ++      ++    ++                                       Amino-acid of chain structure                                                                  ++      ++      ++    ++                                       Cystine         +++     ++      ++    +++                                      Cysteine        +++     ++      ++    +++                                      Methionyl       +++     ++      ++    +++                                      Casamino-acid   +++     +++     +++   +++                                      Casamino-acid + Vitamin                                                                        +++     +++     +++   +++                                      Casamino-acid + Extract                                                                        +++     +++     +++   +++                                      of yeast                                                                       Extract of yeast                                                                               +++     ++ +    +++   +++                                      Vitamins        ++      ++      ++    ++                                       ______________________________________                                    

                                      TABLE 5                                      __________________________________________________________________________     Substance                                                                              F.R.I. No.                                                             added to                                                                               2546         2545          2544          2543                          basic medium                                                                           a b  c   d   a  b  c   d   a  b  c   d   a  b  c   d                   __________________________________________________________________________     none    - +  ++  +++ -  +  ++  +++ -  +  ++  +++ -  +  ++  +++                 Acetic acid                                                                            - ++ +++ +++ -  +  ++  +++ -  ++ +++ +++ +  ++ +++ +++                 Butyric acid                                                                           - ++ +++ +++ -  +  ++  +++ -  ++ +++ +++ +  ++ +++ +++                 Propionic acid                                                                         - ++ +++ +++ -  +  ++  +++ -  ++ +++ +++ +  ++ +++ +++                 Na.sub.2 S.9H.sub.· 2 O                                                       + ++ +++ +++ -  +  ++  +++ -  ++ ++  +++ +  ++ +++ +++                 Mercaptan                                                                              - ++ +++ +++ -  +  ++  +++ -  +  ++  +++ -  ++ ++  +++                 Ammonia - ++ +++ +++ -  +  ++  +++ -  ++ ++  +++ +  ++ +++ +++                 Skatole - ++ +++ +++ -  ++ ++  +++ -  ++ ++  +++ -  ++ +++ +++                 Extract of                                                                             ++                                                                               ++ +++ +++ ++ ++ +++ +++ ++ ++ +++ +++ ++ ++ +++ +++                 Excrement                                                                      __________________________________________________________________________      Remarks:                                                                        ○1  The compositions of basic culture media were as follows;           a . . . [S--W] - glucose,                                                      b . . . [S--W],                                                                c . . . 8 g of pepton + 2 g of glucose,                                        d . . . 10 g of peptone + 5 g of gravy + 5 g of NaCl + 1 g of glucose.          ○2   The weight of each substance added to a basic medium was 1        g/l of basic medium.                                                            ○3  Those results shown in Table 4 and Table 5 were obtained by        observation with the naked eye.                                          

Next, in Table 6, the experimental data on the specific growth rate (μ) of two strains of bacteria when various kinds of basic culture media were used will be shown, wherein as one of them, a deodorization bacterium of the present invention, F.R.I. No. 2823 was chosen as a representative of the deodorization bacteria of the present invention and as an example of bacterium not belonging to the present invention, color bacillus was used for comparison with the former. According to the value of the specific growth rate μ, from many experiments, it was found that, the μ-value should be more than 0.65 in order to have a large ability for the deodorization when (S-W) is used for the basic culture medium.

                  TABLE 6                                                          ______________________________________                                                            μ-value                                                                       F.R.I.   Colon                                            Basic culture medium No. 2823 bacillus                                         ______________________________________                                         (S--W) - Glucose + F 0.53     --                                               (S--W)               0.76     0.37                                             (S--W) + Amino-acid having S                                                                        0.82     0.41                                             (S--W) + F           0.82     0.41                                             (S--W) + Amino acid + Vitamin                                                                       0.85     0.46                                             ______________________________________                                    

The deodorization bacteria should have a large rate of growth as mentioned above, and besides, it is necessary for the deodorization bacteria to show a resistance to the acid component of gall contained in the excrement, to various anti-bacterial agents, such as, for example, antibiotics and also to various spices contained in foods. Furthermore, it is desirable that the deodorization bacteria have an ability to resist chemical reagents which have a deodorization ability in order to make it possible to use the deodorization bacteria together with those chemical reagents.

In Table 7, the results of the difference of the degree of deodorization due to the difference in sensibility to gall are shown.

                  TABLE 7                                                          ______________________________________                                                     Change of residual smelling                                                    degree with elapse of time                                         Sensibility of                                                                             (F.R.I. No. 2823)                                                  bacteria to gall                                                                           24 hrs      48 hrs  72 hrs                                         ______________________________________                                         not sensitive                                                                              0'˜1  0'      0˜0'                                     sensitive   3'          3'˜3                                                                             3                                              ______________________________________                                    

Next, the problems concerning subculturing will be described.

In the study on the deodorization using microorganisms, one difficult problem is to retain the deodorizing power of bacteria for a long period. In case of bacteria having a large ability for deodorization hitherto, it has been an inevitable tendency for the deodorization ability of the bacteria to rapidly decrease with a lapse of time even though the most superior conventional techniques were employed for their maintenance.

Furthermore, the recovery of the deodorization ability of bacteria is a very difficult matter by any conventional technique or method if the original ability has been spoiled by performing a cultivation in an improper medium or by carrying out a repeated subculture. Thus, it becomes impossible to always get a highly effective result in a deodorization unless the establishment of concrete culture conditions, which make it possible to keep the deodorizing power of bacteria constant for a long period, is realized. In other words, if a bacterial deodorizing agent is essentially superior to a chemical one in deodorizing ability but is less stable, it will not be able to exhibit such superiority.

Hitherto, deodorizing agents consisting of microorganisms have encountered the situation mentioned above. Therefore, it was an urgent matter to find culture media which does not deteriorate deodorizing power of superior bacteria and moreover, to develop culture media which are superior not only in keeping the deodorizing power but also in multiplication of the target bacterium, itself.

The present inventor has made an extensive study on such problems mentioned above and has succeeded in finding the essential composition of a culture medium for the maintenance of the deodorizing power of bacteria during subculture. Thus, the present inventor has succeeded in attaining his object to develop culture media and moreover, has succeeded in isolating many deodorization bacteria. Here, the experimental results obtained by using five strains, that is, F.R.I. No. 2823, F.R.I. No. 3577, F.R.I. No. 3576, F.R.I. No. 3575 and F.R.I. No. 3578, which are typical strains among those isolated by the present inventor, will be disclosed. Those five strains have a strong deodorization ability and each can simultaneously exhibit S-, N- and C-actions and in testing them, since it was found that their activities were almost similar, the results will be shown depending upon the average values of the obtained data from them. In the experiment, the applied culture media contained 1% of a powder of gall. Further, the data shown in the following Table 8 of the present specification were obtained under the condition that each culture medium was added to the excrement in the amount of 10% in weight and the deodorization was carried out for 24 hr. at 28° C.

At first, for reference, an example of experimental results will be shown in Table 8-a, wherein deodorizing powers of those bacteria which were obtained by the sub-culture using conventional culture media of high to low nutrition are set forth. As is clearly shown from Table 8-a, a rapid decrease of activity of bacteria can never be realized if the sub-culture is carried out using any kind of conventional culture media.

                  TABLE 8-a                                                        ______________________________________                                                              Residual odor degree                                      Culture medium for   generation                                                sub-culture          1st    3rd    5th  7th                                    ______________________________________                                         (A)  Gravy + Peptone + Vitamins                                                                         2'     3    3'   4                                    (B)  Gravy + Peptone     2'     3    3'   4                                    (C)  Peptone + Vitamins  2'     3    3'   4                                    (D)  Peptone             2˜2'                                                                            3    3'   4                                    (E)  Amino-acid + Vitamins                                                                              2˜2'                                                                            3    3'   3'˜4                           (F)  Amino-acid          2      2'   3    3'                                   (G)  (S--W) + Vitamins   1      1˜1'                                                                          2    3'                                   (H)  (S--W)              1'     2    2'   3'                                   ______________________________________                                    

Next, in Table 8-b, the tendency of the decrease of activity is shown, wherein the sub-culture media whose compositions were respectively (A), (B), (C) . . . and (H) shown in Table 8-a further contain 1 g/l of F component were used for the sub-culture. Here the F component is the general name of S-containing compounds+N-containing compounds+C-containing compounds, each having a foul-smelling tendency, which are contained in the excrement and practically, in those experimental tests shown in Table 8-b, Na₂ S.9H₂ O, NH₃ and acetic acid were used as representative of those S-, N- and C-compounds.

                  TABLE 8-b                                                        ______________________________________                                                       Residual odor degree                                             Culture medium                                                                               generation                                                       for sub-culture                                                                              1st    3rd       5th  7th                                        ______________________________________                                         (A) + F       2      2'        3    3'                                         (B) + F       2      2'        3    3'                                         (C) + F       1'˜2                                                                            2         2'   3                                          (D) + F       1'˜2                                                                            2         2'   3                                          (E) + F       1'˜2                                                                            2         2'   2'˜3                                 (F) + F       1'˜2                                                                            2         2'   3                                          (G) + F       1      1˜1'                                                                               1'   1'                                         (H) + F       1      1'        1'˜2                                                                          2                                          ______________________________________                                    

As is clearly understood from Table 8-a and Table 8-b, there exist suitable compositions for culture media in the vicinity of the region near (G) and (H) or (G)+F and (H)+F where the decrease of activity is rather small.

Next, in the vicinity of the region near to the compositions (G), (H), (G)+F and (H)+F where the decrease of activity was observed to be small, an experiment was repeated eliminating the glucose component from the composition of the (S-W) medium and the results are shown in the following table, wherein--glucose means the glucose component was eliminated.

    ______________________________________                                                        Residual odor degree                                            Culture medium generation                                                      for sub-culture                                                                               1st    3rd      5th  7th                                        ______________________________________                                         (G) - glucose  1      1        1'   1'                                         (H) - glucose  1      1˜1'                                                                              1'˜2                                                                          2                                          (G) - glucose + F                                                                             0'˜1                                                                            0'˜1                                                                              0'˜1                                                                          0'˜1                                 (H) - glucose + F                                                                             0'˜1                                                                            1        1˜1'                                                                          1'                                         ______________________________________                                    

As is understood from the above table, the important factors for the composition of culture medium to prevent the decrease of deodorizing power of those five strains of bacteria are, firstly, the basic medium should be poor in its nutritive state and moreover, secondly, it should contain F substances and vitamin as additive components to the culture medium.

Next, in Table 9-a and Table 9-b, the results on two series of experiments are summerized, wherein the activities of bacteria multiplied successively by repeated subculture using culture media whose basic composition was (G)-glucose or (H)-glucose were examined and, also the effect of addition of various amino-acids was examined.

                  TABLE 9-a                                                        ______________________________________                                         Amino-acid                                                                     added to basic culture                                                                              Residual smell                                            medium consisting of (G) -                                                                          generation                                                glucose for sub-culture                                                                             4th       11th                                            ______________________________________                                         Cystine              0'˜1                                                                               1                                               Cysteine             1         1'                                              Methionine           0'˜1                                                                               1                                               Glycine              1         2                                               Glutamic acid        1         2                                               Arginine             2         2'                                              Asparagine           2         2'                                              Aspartic acid        2         2'                                              Alanine              1'        2                                               Phenyl alanine       2         2'                                              Amino-butyric acid   1'        2'                                              Leucine              2'        3                                               Isoleucine           2'        3                                               Proline              2         2'                                              Lysine               1'        2                                               Tyrosine             1'        2'                                              Histidine            1         2'                                              Triptophan           2         3                                               Threonine            2         3                                               Serine               2         3                                               Casamino-acid        1'˜2                                                                               2˜2'                                      ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 9-b                                                        ______________________________________                                         Amino-acid                                                                     added to basic culture                                                                              Residual smell                                            medium consisting of (H) -                                                                          generation                                                glucose for subculture                                                                              4th       11th                                            ______________________________________                                         Cystine              1˜1'                                                                               1'˜2                                      Cystein              1˜1'                                                                               2                                               Methionine           1˜1'                                                                               2                                               Glycine              1'        2                                               Glutamic acid        1'        2'                                              Arginine             2˜2'                                                                               3                                               Asparagine           2'        3                                               Aspartic acid        2'        3                                               Alanine              2         2'                                              Phenylalanine        2'        3                                               Amino-butyric acid   2         2'˜3                                      Leucine              3         3'                                              Isoleucine           3         3'                                              Proline              2'        3                                               Lysine               1'        2'                                              Tyrosine             1'˜2                                                                               2'                                              Histidine            1˜1'                                                                               2'                                              Triptophan           2˜2'                                                                               3˜3'                                      Threonine            2˜2'                                                                               3˜3'                                      Serine               2˜2'                                                                               3˜3'                                      Casamino-acid        2         2'                                              ______________________________________                                    

In the following Table 10-a and Table 10-b, the results of two series of experiments are summarized wherein the activities of bacteria multiplied successively in the repeated subculture using culture media whose basic component was (G)-gluclose or (H)-glucose and, further where various amino-acids and the foul-smelling component F, were added.

                  TABLE 10-a                                                       ______________________________________                                         Substance                                                                      added to basic culture medium                                                                        residual smell                                           consisting of (G)-glucose for                                                                        generation                                               sub-culture           4th       11th                                           ______________________________________                                                    Cystine        0'˜1                                                                               0'˜1                                            Cystein        0'˜1                                                                               0'˜1                                            Methionine     0'˜1                                                                               0'˜1                                            Glycine        0'˜1                                                                               1                                                     Glutamic acid  0'˜1                                                                               1                                          F          Arginine       1         1'                                         foul-smelling                                                                             Asparagine     1         1'                                         component  Aspartic acid  1         1'                                                    Alanine        0'˜1                                                                               1˜1'                                 +          Phenyl alanine 1         1'                                                    Amino-butyric acid                                                                            0'˜1                                                                               1'                                                    Leucine        1         1'˜2                                            Isoleucine     1         1'˜2                                            Proline        1         1'                                                    Lysine         0'˜1                                                                               1                                                     Tyrosine       0'˜1                                                                               1'                                                    Histidine      0'˜1                                                                               1˜1'                                            Triptophan     1         1'˜2                                            Threonine      1         1'˜2                                            Serine         1         1'˜2                                            Casamino-acid  0'˜1                                                                               1˜1'                                 ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 10-b                                                       ______________________________________                                         Substance                                                                      added to basic culture medium                                                                        residual smell                                           consisting of (H)--glucose for                                                                       generation                                               sub-culture           4th       11th                                           ______________________________________                                                    Cystine        1         1'                                                    Cysteine       1         1'                                                    Methionine     1         1'                                                    Glycine        1         1'                                                    Glutamic acid  1         1'                                         F          Arginine       1˜1'                                                                               1'˜2                                 foul-smelling                                                                             Asparagine     1'        2                                          component  Aspatic acid   1'        2                                                     Alanine        1˜1'                                                                               2                                          +          Phenyl alanine 1'        2                                                     Amino-butyric acid                                                                            1˜1'                                                                               2                                                     Leucine        1'        2                                                     Isoleucine     1'        2                                                     Proline        1'        2                                                     Lysine         1         1'                                                    Tyrosine       1˜1'                                                                               1'                                                    Histidine      1         1'˜2                                            Triptophan     1'        2                                                     Threonine      1'        2                                                     Serine         1'        2                                                     Casamino-acid  1˜1'                                                                               1'˜2                                 ______________________________________                                    

As it is clearly understood from Table 9 and Table 10, amino-acids which are effective to keep the deodorizing power of the bacteria at almost constant level for many generations are cystine, cysteine, methionine, glycine, glutamic acid, amino-butyric acid, lysine, histidine, alanine, tyrosine, etc. and other amino-acids used in those experiments can not prevent a gradual decrease of the deodorizing power of the bacteria.

Further experiments on the bacteria cultivated by the successive sub-culture proved that further addition of starch, mineral materials, etc. has a remarkable effect on the preservation of deodorizing power. Furthermore, it was more beneficial to add any combination of starch, mineral, vitamin and amino acid which was proved to be effective, such as cystine, etc., to the said culture media for the preservation of deodorizing power and such an addition was also effective to increase the rate of growth. These effects mentioned above can be clearly understood from Table 11-Table 13.

                  TABLE 11                                                         ______________________________________                                         Substance       Residual odor degree                                           added to (G) - glucose                                                                         generation                                                     + F             10th   15th     20th 25th                                      ______________________________________                                         Starch          0'˜1                                                                            0'˜1                                                                              1    1                                         Mineral         0'˜1                                                                            1        1    1˜1'                                Starch + Mineral                                                                               0'˜1                                                                            0'˜1                                                                              0'˜1                                                                          0'˜1                                ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 12                                                         ______________________________________                                                          Number of                                                                      bacteria    Residual odor                                     Substance        (aerobic)   degree                                            added to basic culture                                                                          cultured for                                                                               (15th                                             medium*          72 hrs at 28° C.                                                                    generation)                                       ______________________________________                                         none             5 × 10.sup.9                                                                         2'                                                Starch           7 × 10.sup.9                                                                         1'˜2                                        Mineral          6 × 10.sup.9                                                                         2                                                 Vitamins         7 × 10.sup.9                                                                         1'                                                Starch + Mineral 12 × 10.sup.9                                                                        1˜1'                                        Starch + Vitamins                                                                               13 × 10.sup.9                                                                        1                                                 Mineral + Vitamins                                                                              8 × 10.sup.9                                                                         1˜1'                                        Starch + Mineral + Vitamins                                                                     15 × 10.sup.9                                                                        0'˜1                                        ______________________________________                                          *Remark: The basic culture medium was (S--W) - glucose + F               

                  TABLE 13                                                         ______________________________________                                         Substance        Residual odor degree                                          added to basic culture                                                                          generation                                                    medium [(G)-- glucose + F]                                                                      20th    25th    30th  35th                                    ______________________________________                                         Starch + Mineral 0'˜1                                                                             0'˜1                                                                             1     1                                       Starch + Mineral + Cystine                                                                      0'˜1                                                                             0'˜1                                                                             0'˜1                                                                           0'˜1                              ______________________________________                                    

Next, the present inventor also studied the problem concerning the storage of bacteria, that is, various conditions were applied to bacteria in a dry, semi-dry and wet state to determine the change of their activity and the inventor has come to a conclusion that it is almost impossible to carry out a storage of bacteria for a considerable long period without spoiling their activity so that it can be considered "storage of a commercial product" from the commercial stand point unless bacteria are put in a dry state.

Hereafter, experimental data which forced the inventors to have such a conclusion mentioned above, will be explained in a proper order. At first, Table 14 will be shown. Those data in Table 14 were obtained using bacteria F.R.I. No. 2823 as a test sample, however, it was also confirmed that analogous data can be obtained even if other bacteria are chosen as a test sample and unfortunately, no exception was found.

                  TABLE 14                                                         ______________________________________                                                                   Allowable period of                                  State of bacteria                                                                             Coating    storage                                              during storage material   28° C.                                                                            8° C.                               ______________________________________                                         dry            --         7 days    20 days                                    semi-dry       --         5 days    15 days                                    wet            --         3 days    7 days                                     Co-existed with liquor                                                                        --         2˜3 days                                                                           5 days                                     ______________________________________                                    

In Table 14, the dry state of bacteria means the bacteria is in a state where the content of water is 8%, wherein the drying of bacteria can be carried out by a conventional technique, the semi-dry state means the bacteria contains 15% of water, the wet state means a state of bacteria gathered from the culture medium, which is referred to as a wet cake and the state of bacteria co-existing with liquor means the state of culture medium itself after the end of cultivation. The allowable period of storage means the longest period of storage during which the bacteria can be stored without decreasing their deodorizing power.

In the above experiment, in order to find suitable storage conditions which can be commercially used, the water content and the temperature were varied but, it was impossible to prevent the decrease of deodorizing power for an appreciable period. However, since S-, N- and C-containing compounds are very effective for the prevention of the decrease of deodorizing power of bacteria and also for their rapid growth in the successive sub-culture as explained already, it was thought that the existence of such compounds around the body of bacteria may help prevent the decrease of their activity. Coating tests were carried out, while adjusting the water content of bacteria to various degrees, at the same time.

Table 15 shows the results of such a test on bacteria coated with substances which played an important role in their successive subculture.

                  TABLE 15(a)                                                      ______________________________________                                         State                     Allowable period                                     in                        of storage                                           storage                                                                               Coating material   28° C.                                                                           8° C.                                ______________________________________                                                S--, N-- and C--containing                                                                        25 days  120 days                                           compounds                                                                      Mineral            10 days  40 days                                     dry    Vitamins           15 days  50 days                                            Starch             20 days  100 days                                           Cystine            20 days  100 days                                           Glutamic acid      20 days  100 days                                           S--, N--, C--containing                                                                           5 days   25 days                                            compounds                                                                      Mineral            4 days   15 days                                     wet    Vitamins           4 days   20 days                                            Starch             4 days   25 days                                            Cystine            4 days   25 days                                            Glutamic acid      4 days   25 days                                            S--, N--, C--containing                                                                           4 days   20 days                                            compounds                                                                      Mineral            3 days   12 days                                     liquid Vitamins           3 days   12 days                                            Starch             3 days   20 days                                            Cystine            3 days   20 days                                            Glutamic acid      3 days   20 days                                     ______________________________________                                    

In Table 15 (a), (b), the coating of the body of bacteria in the liquid state means that each coating material was added to the culture medium and intimately mixed, and then the mixture was allowed to stand for storage. Further, the length of the allowable period of storage differed considerably in accordance with the difference of the concentration of coating material and there existed an optimum concentration for the period of storage as shown in Table 15 (b). The data on the allowable period of storage shown in Table 15 (a) are those values obtained by the test on bacteria F.R.I. No. 2823 coated with each coating material of the optimum concentration. The situation is the same also on those data which appear in Table 16 and Table 17.

                                      TABLE 15 (b)                                 __________________________________________________________________________                            Concentra-                                                                            Allowable Period                                 Strain State  Coating  tion   of Storage                                       (F.R.I. No.)                                                                          in Storage                                                                            Material (d)    28° C.                                                                       8° C.                                __________________________________________________________________________                   S--, N--, C--                                                                           1      2 days                                                                              10 days                                                   containing                                                                              5      3 days                                                                              15 days                                                   compounds                                                                               10     3 days                                                                              20 days                                                            20     4 days                                                                              20 days                                     2823   liquid                                                                                         1      2 days                                                                              10 days                                                   Cystine  5      2 days                                                                              15 days                                                            10     3 days                                                                              20 days                                                            20     3 days                                                                              20 days                                                   S--, N--, C--                                                                           1      2 days                                                                              10 days                                                   containing                                                                              5      3 days                                                                              15 days                                                   compounds                                                                               10     4 days                                                                              20 days                                                            20     3 days                                                                              12 days                                     2544   liquid                                                                                         1      2 days                                                                              10 days                                                   Cystine  5      3 days                                                                              15 days                                                            10     4 days                                                                              20 days                                                            20     3 days                                                                              12 days                                                   S--, N--, C--                                                                           1      3 days                                                                              15 days                                                   containing                                                                              5      4 days                                                                              20 days                                                   compounds                                                                               10     2 days                                                                              10 days                                                            20     1 days                                                                              7 days                                      2545   liquid                                                                                         1      3 days                                                                              15 days                                                   Cystine  5      4 days                                                                              20 days                                                            10     3 days                                                                              12 days                                                            20     2 days                                                                              7 days                                                    S--, N--, C--                                                                           1      4 days                                                                              20 days                                                   containing                                                                              5      3 days                                                                              15 days                                                   compounds                                                                               10     1 day                                                                               6 days                                                             20     1 day                                                                               5 days                                      2546   liquid                                                                                         1      4 days                                                                              20 days                                                   Cystine  5      4 days                                                                              15 days                                                            10     2 days                                                                              10 days                                                            20     1 day                                                                               5 days                                      __________________________________________________________________________      Remarks:                                                                        ○1  The concentration, d in the table, was defined as follows; 1d      means the liquid state contains 0.1% of each of Na.sub.2 S.9H.sub.2 O,         ammonia and acetic acid in weight.                                              ○2  The concentration of cystine, d in the table was also defined      as follows; 1d means the liquid state contains 0.1% of cystine in weight.

Table 16 shows the results of storage of the bacteria, wherein each bacteria sample was coated with a material which is shown to play a significant role in accelerating the decrease of deodorizing power of the bacteria in the successive sub-culture.

                  TABLE 16                                                         ______________________________________                                                                 Allowable period of                                    State in   Coating      storage (days)                                         storage    material     28° C.                                                                           8° C.                                  ______________________________________                                         dry        Peptone      5        15                                                       Gravy        7        20                                                       Tryptophan   6        20                                                       Serine       7        20                                            wet        Peptone      2        5                                                        Gravy        2        5                                                        Tryptophan   2        5                                                        Serine       2        7                                             liquid     Peptone      2        5                                                        Gravy        2        4                                                        Tryptophan   2        5                                                        Serine       2        5                                             ______________________________________                                    

As it is understood from the above tables, it is effective to coat the body of bacteria with a substance which contributes to retaining the original deodorization ability in the sub-culture. Thus, it can be concluded that a substance which contributes to maintaining the original deodorization ability of bacteria in a sub-culture also plays an important role in the preservation of that ability during storage.

With such information on the coating material, further tests were carried out to find better coating materials by the combination of those coating materials which showed superiority and the present inventor has discovered that it is very effective to coat the body of bacteria with a combination of those materials which compose a superior culture medium or a combination of S-, N- and C-containing compounds and/or starch and/or vitamin+mineral or a combination of amino acids which are effective for the preservation of deodorizing power or again a proper mixture of those combinations, each material being employed in an appropriate combination. Table 17 (a) shows three examples of coating materials.

                  TABLE 17 (a)                                                     ______________________________________                                                                 Allowable period                                       State in                of storage                                             storage                                                                               Coating material     28° C.                                                                          8° C.                               ______________________________________                                         dry     A . . . (S--W) - Glucose + F +                                                                     60 days 300 days                                           Starch + Mineral +                                                             Vitamins                                                                       B . . . Cystine + Cystein +                                                                        40 days 200 days                                           Methionine                                                                     C . . . S--, N--, C--comps +                                                                       60 days 300 days                                           Starch + Mineral +                                                             Vitamins                                                               wet     A                   8 days  60 days                                            B                   7 days  50 days                                            C                   7 days  50 days                                    liquid  A                   6 days  60 days                                            B                   5 days  50 days                                            C                   5 days  50 days                                    ______________________________________                                    

Here, another example will be shown. The data shown in Table 14 to Table 17 (a) for storage tests were obtained by sealing nitrogen gas into the vapour phase of each sample, however, other gases can be effectively used. The effect of various gases such as CO₂, O₂, H₂, methane gas and air on the allowable period of storage are shown in Table 17 (b), together with that of nitrogen gas. From this data, it can be understood that CO₂ and H₂ are very superior to use for storage, and are almost comparable to nitrogen gas, however, air and methane gas are slightly inferior and oxygen gas is most inferior.

                  TABLE 17 (b)                                                     ______________________________________                                                                       Allowable period                                 State in                                                                              Coating    Gas         or storage                                       storage                                                                               material   sealed      28° C.                                                                            8° C.                           ______________________________________                                                           N.sub.2     60 days   300 days                                                 CO.sub.2    60 days   300 days                               dry    [A]        O.sub.2     15 days   50 days                                                  H.sub.2     55 days   250 days                                                 Methane gas 40 days   200 days                                                 Air         30 days   100 days                                                 N.sub.2     40 days   200 days                                                 CO.sub.2    40 days   200 days                                                 O.sub.2     12 days   40 days                                dry    [B]        H.sub.2     40 days   200 days                                                 Methane gas 30 days   150 days                                                 Air         20 days   70 days                                                  N.sub.2     60 days   300 days                                                 CO.sub.2    60 days   300 days                                                 O.sub.2     15 days   50 days                                dry    [C]        H.sub.2     55 days   250 days                                                 Methane gas 40 days   180 days                                                 Air         30 days   100 days                               ______________________________________                                    

The following conclusion can be derived from those experiments mentioned above.

(a) As the temperature for the preservation of deodorization ability of bacteria, 8° C. is more desirable than 28° C. (the allowable period of storage at 8° C. is about five times of that at 28° C.).

(b) As to the state of bacteria during storage, both the wet state and also the state co-existant with the culture medium (sometimes, this state was called the "liquid state") are not desirable.

(c) There exists an optimum concentration of coating material characteristic to the species of strain.

(d) If bacteria are put in the dry state, coated with a proper coating material, it is possible to store them for a long period.

(e) A desirable coating material can be selected depending upon the application of the bacteria. For example, in case of bacteria used as a deodorizing agent by oral administration, a combination of amino-acid, vitamin, mineral and starch is proper for the coating material, avoiding the use of S-, N- and C-compounds.

(f) There exists an intimate relation between the coating material and the components of the culture medium, which is effective to keep the original deodorizing power.

Furthermore, in order to practically employ a deodorant consisting of bacteria, another important problem to be solved is the selection of a single strain of bacteria or as small a number of strains as possible. There are many workers who are engaging in the study on the method of deodorization using bacteria of many strains. However, it is a difficult matter from a practical standpoint to keep the deodorizing power of bacteria of many strains at a constant level and to produce a commercial product having a stable and constant quality. Moreover, it is almost impossible to prove the non-pathogenicity of bacteria of many strains, separately and in combination. Moreover, it should be noted that by the use of such a deodorant comprising many strains the possibility or an irremedial breakdown of the natural biobalance exists.

From the viewpoint mentioned above, it is clear that bacteria of single strain is most desirable to use. Even if such a species of bacteria is difficult to obtain, it is a matter of necessity to use as small a number of strains as possible such as 2-3 strains. Fortunately, the present inventors have succeeded in isolating various strains which can be used solely or as a mixture of two or three for deodorization. Surely, this has an important meaning on the practical use of bacteria for deodorization. Furthermore, the inventor has succeeded in carrying out the development of two subjects which are necessary for the use of bacteria. One of them is as follows.

When a single strain of bacteria which exhibits rapid growth in the aerobic condition is isolated or in the facultative anaerobic condition, it seems to be almost impossible to achieve growth in the anaerobic condition. The importance of rapid growth in the anaerobic condition for the present purpose has already been pointed out in this specification. For more than one year, the inventor endeavoured to selectively acclimatize such bacteria to the anaerobic condition which appears very often in the deodorization, and succeeded, to get bacteria of a single strain which can grow rapidly in the anaerobic condition and also have a superior deodorization ability. The degree of multiplication of the bacteria just after the isolation into a single strain and that of the bacteria after being acclimatized to the anaerobic condition in the anaerobic cultivation are shown in Table 18.

                  TABLE 18                                                         ______________________________________                                                          Count of bacteria (F.R.I.                                                      No. 2823)/cc after an                                                          anaerobic culture at 28° C.                                             for 72 hrs.                                                                      Strain just                                                                               Strain                                                              after iso- acclima-                                         Culture medium     lation     tized                                            ______________________________________                                         S--W - glucose + F 1 × 10.sup.8                                                                        3 × 10.sup.9                               S--W               5 × 10.sup.8                                                                        5 × 10.sup.9                               S--W + Amino acid + Vitamins                                                                      1 × 10.sup.9                                                                        10 × 10.sup.9                              ______________________________________                                    

The other important development made by the inventor is the acclimatization of bacteria to a given temperature situated in a broad range of temperature. This necessity, of course, comes from the fact that the deodorization bacteria will be used broadly every where in the world, such as, from the tropical zone to subtropical zone, temperate zone and frigid zone. Thus, the bacteria of a single strain are desired to have a considerably large rate of growth and also a strong deodorizing power even at a high temperature or at a low temperature. If the temperature range represented by three typical temperatures such as +8° C., +28° C. and +40° C. and the conditions of partial pressure of oxygen is classified into three types, that is, aerobic, facultative anaerobic and anaerobic, 9 conditions appear as shown in the following table. To those conditions, the bacteria of a single strain should be acclimatized in order to respond to the demand.

    ______________________________________                                                     +8°                                                                             +28° C.                                                                          +40° C.                                    ______________________________________                                         aerobic       0         0        0                                             facultative anerobic                                                                         0         0        0                                             anaerobic     0         0        0                                             ______________________________________                                    

Starting from a strain which exhibited rapid growth at 28° C. in the aerobic or facultative anaerobic condition, a selective acclimatization to each of those 9 given conditions was carried out repeatedly for a long period and at last, the present inventor has succeeded in cultivating them.

The degrees of multiplication of those acclimatized bacteria and the degree of multiplication of the single original strain obtained by the isolation and used as the starting material for the acclimatization to the nine given conditions concerning the temperature and the partial pressure of oxygen, are listed in Table 19.

                                      TABLE 19                                     __________________________________________________________________________            Count of bacteria/cc                                                    Partial                                                                               Strain just after                                                       pressure of                                                                           isolation      Strain acclimatized                                      oxygen 8° C.                                                                        28° C.                                                                        40° C.                                                                      8° C.                                                                         28° C.                                                                       40° C.                                 __________________________________________________________________________     aerobic                                                                               1 × 10.sup.8                                                                  8 × 10.sup.9                                                                   --  2 × 10.sup.9                                                                   10 × 10.sup.9                                                                 8 × 10.sup.9                            facultative                                                                    anaerobic                                                                             3 × 10.sup.7                                                                  5 × 10.sup.9                                                                   --  1 × 10.sup.9                                                                   8 × 10.sup.9                                                                  6 × 10.sup.9                            anaerobic                                                                             1 × 10.sup.6                                                                  1 × 10.sup.8                                                                   --  3 × 10.sup.8                                                                   5 × 10.sup.9                                                                  3 × 10.sup.9                            __________________________________________________________________________      Remarks:                                                                       1 The culture medium was (S--W) and each cultivation was carried out for       72 hr.                                                                         2 The strain used for the acclimatization was the same as that in Table        18.                                                                      

During those experiments, it was found that the adaptability of bacteria to the culture condition is rather much different from strain to strain, that is, there exist strains which easily adapt to the culture condition and on the other hand, which have a strong inertia to adapt to the applied condition.

At any rate, the increase of the number of species of strains such as, for example, to nine as in the above experiment makes it very complicated to carry out the experimental work since it is always necessary to keep the deodorizing power of bacteria of a single strain at a high level. However, by the cultivation of various bacteria of a single strain which can adapt to the climatic condition such as temperature and also partial pressure of oxygen in the medium where the bacteria are desired to grow, it has become possible to carry out the deodorization everywhere in the world by a proper selection of the deodorization bacteria developed by the present inventor. An example to prove what mentioned above is shown in Table 20.

                  TABLE 20                                                         ______________________________________                                                          Residual odor degree                                                           (deodorizing power test)                                      Experimental condition                                                                            Strain     Strain                                           (excrement)        original   acclimatized                                     ______________________________________                                         bacteria  during       3          1'                                           were added                                                                               during summer                                                                               3'         1'                                           to a receiver                                                                            during autumn                                                                               3          1'                                           of excrement                                                                             during winter                                                                               4          1'                                           in a basin                                                                               8° C. 2'         1                                                      28° C.                                                                               1          0'˜1                                             40° C.                                                                               4          0'˜1                                   ______________________________________                                          Remarks                                                                        1 The original strain not acclimatized was just the same as that shown in      Table 18.                                                                      2 The acclimatized strains were chosen from those shown in Table 19.           3 The value of residual odor during one season is the mean value during        it.                                                                       

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for culturing a living autotrophic bacteria selected from the group consisting of FRI Nos. 2544, 2545, 2546, 2823, 3575, 3576, 3577 and 3578 for the deodorization of media which comprises culturing a living autotrophic bacteria selected from the group consisting of FRI Nos. 2544, 2545, 2546, 2823, 3575, 3576, 3577 and 3578 in a medium containing one or more S-, N- and C-containing compounds which are present as foul-smelling substances in excrement and/or an amino acid selected from the group consisting of cystine, cysteine, methionine, glycine, glutamic acid, alanine, aminobutyric acid, lysine, tyrosine and histidine, and for a time and under conditions sufficient to effect deodorization of said medium, said one or more S-, N- and C-containing compounds being present in an amount sufficient to accelerate the rate of growth of the bacteria when they enter the logarithmic phase relative to the rate of growth in the absence of said S-, N- and C-containing compounds and said amino acid being present in an amount sufficient to maintain the deodorizing ability of the bacteria.
 2. A method for culturing as claimed in claim 1 wherein said medium further comprises one or more starches, one or more vitamins and/or one or more minerals.
 3. A method for storing bacteria selected from the group consisting of FRI Nos. 2544, 2545, 2546, 2823, 3575, 3576, 3577 and 3578 said bacteria being capable of deodorizing excrement which comprises storing bacteria selected from the group consisting of FRI Nos. 2544, 2545, 2546, 2823, 3575, 3576, 3577 and 3578 at a temperature of from about 8° to about 28° C. in a dry state in the presence of one or more S-, N- and C-containing compounds contained in excrement as a foul-smelling substance, and/or one or more amino acids selected from the group consisting of cystine, cysteine, methionine, glycine, glutamic acid, alanine, aminobutyric acid, lysine, tyrosine and histidine, said one or more S-, N- and C-containing compounds and/or one or more amino acids being present in an amount sufficient to maintain the deodorizing ability of said bacteria during storage.
 4. A method for storing bacteria according to claim 3 wherein said storage is performed in an inert gas.
 5. A method for storing bacteria according to claim 4 wherein said inert gas is CO₂, N₂, H₂ or He.
 6. A deodorant composition capable of deodorizing excrement comprising (I) bacterial composition comprising a deodorizing effective amount of at least one strain of an autotrophic bacteria selected from the group consisting of FRI Nos. 2544, 2545, 2546, 2823, 3575, 3576, 3577 and 3578, said at least one bacterial strain exhibiting accelerated growth in S-W medium in the presence of (a) each of Na₂ S·9H₂ O, ammonia and a lower aliphatic carboxylic acid and/or (b) at least one of cystine, cysteine, and methionine, and (II) a protective coating substance for said bacteria.
 7. The deodorant composition of claim 6 wherein said at least one bacterial strain exhibits a resistance to gall in a concentration of one percent or more.
 8. The deodorant composition of claim 7, wherein said bacterial composition contains at least one strain exhibiting an S-action as determined by ability to show an accelerated growth in the presence of sodium sulfide and an ability to change the sodium sulfide into odorless material, at least one strain exhibiting an N-action as determined by ability to show an accelerated growth in the presence of ammonia, indole or skatole and an ability to change them into odorless material, and at least one strain exhibiting a C-action as determined by ability to show an accelerated growth in the presence of a lower aliphatic carboxylic acid and an ability to change said acid into odorless material.
 9. The deodorant composition of claim 7, wherein said bacterial composition contains at least a set of two strains selected from the group consisting of:(a) one exhibiting S- and N-actions, and the other exhibiting C-action; (b) one exhibiting N- and C-actions, and the other exhibiting S-action; and (c) one exhibiting C- and S-actions, and the other exhibiting N-action.
 10. The deodorant composition of claim 7, wherein said bacterial composition contains at least one strain exhibiting each of S-, N- and C-actions.
 11. The deodorant composition of claim 7, wherein said at least one strain is selected from the group consisting of FRI Nos. 2544, 2545, 25446 and
 2823. 12. The deodorant composition of claim 7, wherein said coating comprises bacterial (A) at least one of S-, N- or C-containing compound present in excrement as foul-smelling substances and/or (B) at least one S-containing amino acid, said at least one S-, N- or C-containing compound and/or at least one S-containing amino acid being present in an amount sufficient to maintain the deodorizing ability.
 13. The deodorant composition of claim 12, wherein said coating further comprises one or more starches, one or more minerals and or one or more vitamins.
 14. The deodorant composition of claim 12, wherein said at least one bacterial strain is stored at a temperature of 8° C.
 15. The deodorant composition of claim 12, wherein said at least one bacterial strain is stored in an inert gas.
 16. The deodorant composition according to claim 13, wherein said at least one bacterial strain is acclimatized to be aerobic, facultative anaerobic or anaerobic.
 17. The deodorant composition of claim 15 wherein said inert gas is CO₂, N₂, H₂ or He.
 18. The deodorant composition according to claim 6, wherein the at least one bacterial strain is acclimatized to grow at temperatures within the range of +8° C. to 40° C., so as to exhibit a rate of growth within said temperature range sufficient to overcome the growth of corresponding non-acclimatized bacteria.
 19. The deodorant composition according to claim 6, wherein the at least one bacterial strain exhibits a resistance to anti-bacterial agents and spices.
 20. A bacterial preparation comprising in admixture (I) a bacterial composition comprising a deodorizing effective amount of at least one strain of an autotrophic bacteria selected from the group consisting of FRI Nos. 2544, 2545, 2546, 2823, 3575, 3576, 3577 and 3578, said at least one bacterial strain exhibiting accelerated growth in S-W medium in the presence of (a) each of Na₂ S·9H₂ O, ammonia and a lower aliphatic carboxylic acid and/or (b) at least one of cystine, cysteine, and methionine and (II) a composition comprising (A) at least one of S-, N- and C-containing compounds present in excrement as foul-smelling substances and/or (B) at least one compound selected from the group consisting of an S-containing amino acid, glycine, glutaminc acid, alanine, aminobutyric acid, lysine, tyrosine and histidine, said at least one S-, N- and C-containing compounds and/or at least one S-containing amino acid being present in an amount sufficient to maintain the deodorizing ability during subculture.
 21. The bacterial preparation of claim 20, wherein said at least one bacterial strain exhibits a resistance to gall in a concentration of one percent or more.
 22. The bacterial preparation of claim 20, wherein said composition (II) further comprises one or more starches, one or more minerals and/or one or more vitamins.
 23. The bacterial preparation of claim 21 or claim 22, wherein said bacterial composition contains at least one strain exhibiting an S-action as determined by ability to show an accelerated growth in the presence of sodium sulfide and an ability to change the sodium sulfide into odorless material, at least one strain exhibiting an N-action as determined by ability to show an accelerated growth in the presence of ammonia, indole or skatole and an ability to change them into odorless material, and at least one strain exhibiting a C-action as determined by ability to show an accelerated growth in the presence of a lower aliphatic carboxylic acid and an ability to change said acid into odorless material.
 24. The bacterial preparation of claim 21 or claim 22, wherein said bacterial composition contains at least a set of two strains selected from the group consisting of:(a) one exhibiting S- and N-actions, and the other exhibiting C-action; (b) one exhibiting N- and C-actions, and the other exhibiting S-action; and (c) one exhibiting C- and S-actions, and the other exhibiting N-action.
 25. The bacterial preparation of claim 21 or claim 22, wherein said bacterial composition contains at least one strain exhibiting each of S-, N- and C-actions.
 26. The bacterial preparation of claim 21 or claim 22, wherein said at least one bacterial strain is a strain subcultured in a subculturing medium containing (A) at least one of S-, N- and C-containing compounds present in excrement as a foul-smelling substance and/or (B) at least one S-containing amino acid, said S-, N- and C-containing compounds and/or at least one S-containing amino acid being present in an amount sufficient to maintain the deodorizing ability during subculturing.
 27. The bacterial preparation of claim 26, wherein said subculturing medium further comprises one or more starches, one or more minerals and/or one or more vitamins.
 28. The bacterial preparation of claim 21 or claim 22, wherein said at least one bacterial strain is stored at a temperature of 8° C.
 29. The bacterial preparation of claim 21 or claim 22, wherein said at least one bacterial strain is stored in an inert gas.
 30. The bacterial preparation of claim 29 wherein said inert gas is CO₂, N₂, H₂ or He.
 31. The bacterial preparation of claim 21 or claim 22, wherein said least one bacterial strain is acclimatized to be aerobic, facultative anaerobic or anaerobic.
 32. The bacterial preparation of claim 21 or claim 22, wherein said at least one bacterial strain is acclimatized to grow at temperatures within the range of +8° C. to 40° C., so as to exhibit a rate of growth within said temperature range sufficient to overcome the growth of corresponding non-acclimatized bacteria.
 33. The bacterial preparation of claim 21 or claim 22, wherein the at least one bacterial strain exhibits a resistance to antibacterial agents and spices. 